Over the past few months, it has seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Los Angeles Lakers would ultimately hire ESPN analyst and former NBA player JJ Redick to be the new head coach and successor to Darvin Ham. Reports were coming out daily about Redick being the frontrunner to land the highly coveted job in Los Angeles, but now that no longer seems to be the case.
On Thursday morning, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski dropped a bombshell on social media that no one saw coming. The NBA insider broke the news that the Lakers are aggressively pursuing UConn’s Dan Hurley to be the team’s new head coach, with Los Angeles ready to give him a massive, long-term deal.
This report completely contradicts what Shams Charania of The Athletic reported a day earlier, basically saying that it was Redick’s job to lose and that he would more than likely become the new head coach of the Lakers after the NBA Finals concluded later this month.
Ironically enough, Lakers superstar LeBron James and Redick talked about Hurley’s coaching style and how he’s a brilliant mind offensively, which led to back-to-back National Championships won with the Huskies.
He’s so DAMN GOOD!!! Along with his staff. Super creative with their O! Love it
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 19, 2024
Clearly, James is quite fond of Hurley and his coaching style, which likely bodes well for him giving his stamp of approval for this hiring if the Lakers are looking for that from the four-time NBA champion.
The real question moving forward is whether the Lakers brass can get Hurley to sign on the dotted line and how long that process might take. Also, there’s the Anthony Davis factor and whether he’s on board with the potential new head coach, as it has been said repeatedly that he will be part of the process of hiring Ham’s replacement.
Only time will tell what the future holds for the Lakers as they continue to pursue Hurley and if the team can get him signed and move on to what they’d like to do in the upcoming NBA Draft and NBA free agency that follows.
UConn’s Dan Hurley was Lakers’ primary target all along
After months of speculation regarding the vacant coaching position in Los Angeles, it turns out that Dan Hurley was their primary target all along.
Hurley is coming off winning back-to-back titles for the Huskies, which makes him an intriguing candidate, especially considering the other candidates linked to the Lakers job as of late.
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